Scripture Readings for February 1, 2022

2 Samuel 18:9-10, 14b, 24-25a, 30 – 19:3, Psalm 86: 1-6, Mark 5: 21-43

It’s pretty common for us to think of God in terms of a parent and we as God’s children. The most obvious example of this is the nearly universal prayer, “Our Father …” Today’s readings give us three striking examples of the kind of deep parental love God has for us.

The background to the reading from Samuel is that the various tribes of Israel are in conflict. There is a power struggle and some have taken up arms against their King, David. This includes David’s son Absalom. David sends out his forces to do battle and as we see Absalom is killed in a humiliating way. David’s army has been successful but David has lost his son. Is David pleased that his army has been successful? Are their mixed feelings because his son was against him and has lost his life in the process? No, David totally ignores the army’s victory and the lives it cost to save his rule. For David there is only one reality, his son is dead. He would rather have died himself than have his son, the one who led a contingent of the opposition, die. Maybe that should inform our understanding of how God feels when we make poor choices. In New Testament terms, better he die on a cross than we should be lost.

This same kind of love gets told twice in Mark’s Gospel. First, Jairus a synagogue official, comes to Jesus because his daughter is close to death and he believes Jesus can heal her. Jesus without hesitation goes with him and when he arrives at the family’s home ignores what everyone is saying about the girl having died. He reassures Jairus that he doesn’t need to be afraid, just have faith. Faith, by the way, in this instance and all others should not be thought of as holding to a set of beliefs but rather as trust. Trust in another. It’s a relationship word, to have faith in God is to say, we trust God. That’s what’s going on here. Jairus must trust Jesus and he does. So Jesus takes mom, dad and his closest friends in to save Jairus’ daughter from death.

However, what is really important here is that Mark has split the story into two parts and sandwiched another story of faith in the middle, another story of trust. When Mark does that it’s a signal that the story in the middle is the most important because it conveys the deeper meaning for both events.

Now a woman who has sought healing for 12 years comes up behind Jesus, secretly touches his cloak and is healed. Jesus hasn’t said a word to her, didn’t do any of the things usually associated with healing like laying on of hands, and, in fact, didn’t even know she was there. Yet as Mark says, “Jesus, aware at once that power had gone out from him,” now wants to know who has been healed. He asks, “Who has touched my clothes?” He’s in a crowd, the Apostles can’t imagine how many people must have touched him. But the woman knows what he means. She is frightened because to touch someone in her condition is to make that person ritually unclean just as she has been for 12 long years. But she comes forward and tells the truth. She has trusted that just a touch, the slightest contact with Jesus would be healing, so she says, “It was me.” And Jesus acting just like a loving father confirms her trust, “Daughter, your faith has saved you.”

Here is the heart of the story. We don’t need special attention from God. We can be cast out from our loved ones, alone and frightened for years on end but if we trust that God, love and kindness, can heal us then we just need to step forward, reach out and tell the truth. God’s love goes beyond our injuries, failures and even opposition, to heal whatever is broken if we simply trust enough to reach out for help.

Scripture Readings for January 27, 2022

2 Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29, Psalm 132: 1-2, 3-5, 11-14, Mark 4: 21-25

When I read Samuel for today I couldn’t help but think that David is the stand-in for all of us. David is amazed at the favor God has shown to him and his family. David doesn’t think there’s a good reason for God to have chosen him.

“Who am I, Lord GOD, and who are the members of my house, that you have brought me to this point?”

In fact, God has just told David his idea of building a fancy temple for God is missing the point of God’s being with him all this time. God has chosen David and will stand by him and his family forever. That’s it. Today we might say God’s going to be David’s friend. God will have David’s back, no matter what. Young people might say, BFF’s (best friends forever).

Why is God doing this? God wants this relationship and Samuel suggests it’s because God wants everyone in on the deal.

“Your name will be forever great, when men say, ‘The LORD of hosts is God of Israel,’”

This is even clearer in the New Jerusalem Bible translation:

“may the promise which you have made … stand firm forever as you have said, so that your name will be exalted forever and people will say, ‘Israel’s God is Yahweh Sabaoth.’”

It suggests that God wants everyone to know about the gifts or blessings God is making available for us all. The problem, of course, is that life doesn’t always encourage us to see ourselves as beneficiaries of God’s largesse. We don’t feel worthy. Life can be challenging and often discouraging and harsh. There’s no simple answer to why bad things happen.

Mark’s Gospel for today hints at one way to approach the question of understanding the gifts we believe God offers to everyone. Jesus is saying in Mark that “the light” is not meant to be kept under a bushel basket but rather everything that is “hidden” is meant to be out in the open. Another words, pay attention or “listen” to what is being said, in the words and very life of Jesus and just as importantly in our lives everyday.

Then Jesus says something that can seem odd:

“The measure with which you measure will be measured out to you, 
and still more will be given to you.
To the one who has, more will be given; 
from the one who has not, even what he has will be taken away.”

In terms of being chosen like David, God intends good things for everyone. We’re all just as worthy, unlikely as it may seem to us, as David was. Mark’s Gospel says to the extent you accept that and dive in, you’ll gain more of what is offered. If however, you don’t accept that approach then what little you already have is likely to go away. However we do have to understand what’s important. David thought building a strong cedar wood temple for God was what was needed. God said no, we’re not talking material things here, we’re talking a relationship in which God offers life and blessings to human beings and they respond in gratitude and act accordingly. That offer is available for ever and to everyone we just have to listen well enough to hear it, to be aware of it.

We know about this from ordinary experience if we think about it. There are times when I feel overwhelmed by circumstances, too many things aren’t going right and I just want to curl up and avoid all human contact. If I keep this up things only get worse. Then there are moments when I feel good about what is going on, the day is beautiful and I’m ready to take on anything. To me, that’s where we have to look for the presence of God and divine gifts, in our individual lives, our feelings and the choices we make. I think today’s readings say that we are all chosen and promised a future in which God gifts us with what we need to flourish. We need to live based on that generosity and in so doing reveal the light that is still hidden.